From the Deutsche Oper Berlin 1987: This live recording stars the great baritone Renato Bruson and soprano Mara Zampieri as the murderous couple in Verdi’s opera, based on Shakespeare’s tragedy. Luca Ronconi’s production won huge critical acclaim at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, in particular for the conductor, Giuseppe Sinopoli, whose individual virtuosity brought fresh colour to the dramatic score. The cast also features David Griffith as Malcolm, James Morris as Banquo and Dennis O’Neill as Macduff. (Sung in Italian)
Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut is one of the world’s great love stories. It is a tragic tale of a beguiling young woman, torn between true love and a desire for wealth, who discovers she can’t have both. A young student, Des Grieux, meets the beautiful, but capricious, Manon. They fall in love and he saves her from abduction by a rich old roué. But Manon cannot resist the lure of wealth and later allows herself to be seduced by the old man. Before long, however, she is bored, and when Des Grieux appears, her love is reignited. When the old man catches them together, Manon is arrested and deported to Louisiana. The compassionate ship’s captain allows Des Grieux to go with her, and she dies in his arms in the desert.
Salome
In Petr Weigl’s production of Richard Strauss’s powerful and erotic one-act opera, Catherine Malfitano produces a spellbinding performance as Salome, a role which demands the utmost physical and emotional commitment throughout the complex vocal passages and choreographed scenes. During a banquet, Jochanaan (John the Baptist) proclaims, from his prison cell, the coming of the Messiah. He is brought for Salome to see and she, fascinated by him, makes an advance which he shuns, urging her not to follow the ways of her mother, Herodias. When Jochanaan is taken back to his cell, Herod asks Salome to dance, and she agrees on condition that she will be granted a wish. After her Dance of the Seven Veils, she demands the head of Jochanaan, which Herod is forced to have brought to her. She fondles and kisses it until the revolted Herod orders his soldiers to crush her with their shields.
Parsifal
In the words of Opern Welt, Sinopoli “conjures up sounds of exquisite beauty and compelling poignancy.” Wolfgang Wagner’s production emphasizes the celebratory character of the libretto, which harmonizes superbly with Sinopoli’s insistence on the poetry and mystery of the music. A major role in the staging is played by the lighting, which is used to create stunning effects such as the diffuse play of light and shadow at the illumination of the Holy Grail. One of the production’s most striking moments occurs when the director has Kundry unveil the Grail instead of dying. She thus takes full part in the Grail ceremony, displaying a feminism which, in the Bayreuth context, is truly revolutionary.
Tannhäuser
“Thunderous applause, elation”, wrote the prestigious Germany daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Rome’s La Repubblica noted the “triumphal success and storm of applause” that greeted Giuseppe Sinopoli and the ensemble at Tannhäuser’s 1989 Bayreuth Festival premiere. Directed by Wolfgang Wagner, Richard Wagner’s grandson, this Tannhäuser production was one of the high points of the Bayreuth Festival during the latter part of the 1980s. The abstract starkness of Wolfgang Wagner’s production is underscored by the crystalline clarity and vigor of Giuseppe Sinopoli’s conducting, which particularly highlights the progressive aspects of the score. This Tannhäuser production gathers together some of the great Wagner singers of our time such as Cheryl Studer (Elizabeth), Wolfgang Brendel (Wolfram), Richard Versalle (Tannhäuser) and Hans Sotin (Landgrave).